Smilax pumila |
Smilax |
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sarsaparilla vine, sarsparilla vine |
catbrier, greenbrier, sarsaparilla |
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Habit | Subshrubs or vines; rhizomes black, knotted, 5–6 × 2 cm, often with white to pinkish stolons. | Shrubs, vines, or herbs; rhizomes tuberous or stoloniferous, woody; roots filiform. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stems | perennial, prostrate to clambering, branching, slender, to 1 m, ± woody, densely woolly-pubescent, usually prickly (especially at base). |
erect, sprawling or, more often, climbing, simple or branching, unarmed or armed with prickles; woody or herbaceous. |
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Leaves | mostly evergreen, ± evenly disposed; petiole 0.05–0.25 cm, often longer on sterile shoots; blade gray-green, drying to ashy gray-green, obovate to ovate-lanceolate, with 3 prominent veins, 6–10.5 × 5–8 cm, glabrous adaxially, densely puberulent abaxially, base cordate to deeply notched, margins entire, apex bluntly pointed. |
deciduous or evergreen, alternate; stipules present; tendrils often present (few or rudimentary in S. hugeri and S. ecirrhata, absent in S. biltmoreana), paired, originating from petioles; blade linear, oblong, ovate, or, sometimes, reduced to scales in herbaceous species, base sometimes lobed. |
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Inflorescences | umbellate, axillary to leaves or bracts, loose to dense, pedunculate. |
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Umbels | 1–7, axillary to leaves, 5–16-flowered, loose, spherical; peduncle 0.2–0.8 cm, shorter than to 1.5 as long as petiole of subtending leaf. |
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Flowers | perianth yellowish; tepals 3–4 mm; anthers much shorter than filaments; ovule 1 per locule; pedicel thin, 0.1–0.4 cm. |
unisexual; tepals 6, greenish, yellow, or bronze, ovate to elliptic; staminate flowers sometimes with pistillode, stamens 6, anthers basifixed, dehiscence introrse; pistillate flowers with 6 staminodes, style short or absent, stigmas 3, recurved, ligulate. |
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Berries | red, ovoid, 5–8 mm, with acute beaks, not glaucous. |
black, blue, purple, red, or orange. |
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x | = 13–16. |
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Smilax pumila |
Smilax |
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Phenology | Flowering Oct–Nov. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Habitat | Woods, along streams, sandy soil | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distribution |
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MS; SC; TX
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Worldwide in the tropics and subtropics; with extensions into temperate areas |
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Discussion | The red, pointed fruits and densely pubescent herbage of Smilax pumila are distinctive. In Louisiana, the dried leaves are used to prepare a tea for upset stomach. The name Smilax humilis Miller, which predates S. pumila by 20 years and recently has been determined to apply also to this species, has been proposed for rejection (J. L. Reveal 2000). If that proposal is not adopted, the correct name will be S. humilis. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
Species ca. 350 (20 in the flora). The North American herbaceous species of Smilax (numbers 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15 in this treatment) traditionally have been placed in sect. Nemexia (Rafinesque) A. de Candolle. J. K. Mangaly (1968) concluded that the correct name for this group at that rank is sect. Coprosmanthus (Torrey) Bentham. The remaining North American species, all more or less woody, belong to sect. Smilax. The relatively small number of species (20) present in the flora does not warrant the elaboration of an updated subgeneric classification, which should take into account all species of the genus on a worldwide basis. The leaves of Smilax are very unusual. A. Arber (1918, 1920) believed that the “blade of Smilax is not equivalent to the lamina of a dicotyledon but is merely a ‘pseudolamina’ representing an expansion of the upper region of the petiole.” In this view, tendrils are also proliferations of the petiole and are not homologous to tendrils of dicotyledons. However, D. R. Kaplan (1973) remarked that unifacial monocotyledonous leaves never exhibit a lamina rudiment at the apex, and therefore there is no convincing argument that their apices are simply petiolar. He suggested that the terete leaf axis of monocotyledons is not merely an expanded petiole but is positionally equivalent to the lamina region of a dicotyledonous leaf. Smilax leaves lack an abscission layer, but the distal portion of the petiole undergoes a soft disintegration and the “blade” falls, leaving a rough end on the stub (W. C. Coker 1944). Smilax has numerous uses. Sarsaparilla, a beverage and medicinal used against rheumatism, is obtained from the rhizomes of various species, mainly from Mexico and Central America. A jelly can be made from the rhizomes. The fleshy rhizomes of several vining species, most notably S. smallii, which have a texture of firm, crisp apples, were used by Native Americans and early settlers in the same manner as were potatoes, or else in making bread or mush. The young, succulent stems of several species are cooked and used as asparagus or the tender stems may be used in salads. Seeds were sometimes used as beads (“Indian coral”) and a brown dye can be made from the roots of various species. Woody rhizomes were reportedly used by Native Americans and settlers in making pipes. Some species have been used in Native American (D. E. Moerman 1986) and folk medicine. All species of Smilax are excellent wildlife food and are also browsed, or the rhizomes dug and eaten, by domestic stock. (Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.) |
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Key |
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Source | FNA vol. 26, p. 476. | FNA vol. 26, p. 468. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Parent taxa | Smilacaceae > Smilax | Smilacaceae | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sibling taxa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Synonyms | S. humilis, S. pubera, S. puberula | Coprosmanthus, Nemexia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Name authority | Walter: Fl. Carol., 244. (1788) | Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1028. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 455. (1754) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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